The need for telecom skill development in India

Telecom sector has been among the biggest employers in India and it continues to enroll more people. The sector has created quarter million jobs in the last few years alone. And telecom, growing at 15% a year, will need almost four million skilled workforce by 2022. While there are plenty of new jobs in the sector, the challenge remains in getting skilled manpower with an ability to constantly learn new architectures and technologies be it 3G, 4G or in future 5G and even Wi-Fi roll out, that is hugely underpenetrated in India.

With tele density in large urban cities crossing 100% it might appear that whatever growth has to happen has happened. But telecom is such an evolving space that demands on new technologies, handsets, networks, capabilities and skills continues to far outstrip supply. And though urban areas might be well penetrated, as far as telecom services are concerned, rural penetration at around 50% leaves plenty of headroom for growth. While urban areas move to newer technologies, rural areas have twin opportunities to catch up and leapfrog almost simultaneously. Existing mobile services users need to catch up with their urban dwellers in terms of data consumption while the smartphone have-nots need to be brought into the user base, so they can also benefit economically and socially.

Even newer technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) present opportunities for telecom workers to re-skill so that they can deploy and maintain a network of smart sensors. These skills will also go into building smart cities. A recent study by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry noted that out of the estimated 250 million new wireless users in next five years, about 100 million will come from rural areas. This will lead to demand for skilled manpower in rural areas—people who can not only deploy networks but also educate new users on benefits of smartphones as a tool for everything from m-governance to m-commerce and, on how to stay always on via Wi-Fi.

For certain services like Wi-Fi even urban areas in India need to deploy hotspots fast. Countries like US and those in Europe have seen around 70% of data consumption happening on public Wi-Fi networks while in India that is less than 5%.

So telecom faces not only a business challenge but a skills challenge as well. The good news is that India can make both challenges an opportunity. Skills are needed in areas like developing network architectures, radio technologies, mobility solutions, security, IoT and so on. Manpower should have the ability to administer routers, gateways and oversee telecom infrastructure including mobile wireless, wireline, Wi-Fi. Opportunities exist for entry level jobs and those which require domain expertise, like network engineers with 8 to 10 years experience.

Cross platform telecom skills would be much needed to deploy integrated solutions. Knowledge of cabling, quality of service attributes, documentation practices, analytics and related areas will also come in handy.There have been efforts from the government to create manpower relevant for the telecom sector. To train people the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) have taken key initiatives. Even the Telecom Sector Skill Council, a body under the National Skill Development Corporation are working towards narrowing the demand and supply gap for skilled manpower in the sector. The private sector should forge alliances with academic institutions to get access to ready skills from the campus itself.

The Indian telecom sector contributes 3% to the country’s GDP and this will easily increase as telecom is the vital tool catalyzing efficiency and entrepreneurship at a massive scale. According to a report, the mobile economy in India is growing at a rapid pace and will contribute $400 billion to the country’s economic output. It will also generate 4.1 million new jobs in coming years. Many of those jobs will be created in rural areas, where penetration of telecom services needs to go up to improve quality of life and boost rural incomes. It’s time to accelerate skill development in telecom space to realize that vision.

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Nigel Eastwood is the chief executive officer of New Call Telecom in the UK and CEO of New Call India.He is a Director at the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce. As the founder of New Call Telecom, he has been instrumental in growing and shaping the business significantly in the last four years.

Nigel Eastwood is the chief executive officer of New Call Telecom in the UK and CEO of New Call India.He is a Director at the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce. As the founder Show more.. of New Call Telecom, he has been instrumental in growing and shaping the business significantly in the last four years.